Primetime Ratings: NBA Finals Leads ABC

ABC slammed the broadcast competition Thursday, posting a 5.0 rating in adults 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, thanks to a strong showing from the NBA Finals. ABC’s share was 18. It was a Game 1 record for ABC, with a lead in from Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night at 2.9 and NBA Countdown at 3.1.

The game started before primetime in the Pacific and ended after prime in the East.  

CBS was runner up at 1.0/3 despite airing repeats throughout prime.

Fox scored a 0.8/3, with Bones up 13% 0.9 and American Grit up 40% at 0.7.

NBC did a 0.5/2, with Strong at 0.6, down a tenth, and two hours of Game of Silence at 0.4, down 43% from its last airing.

On The CW, a repeat of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow led into Beauty and the Beast at 0.2; the latter closed to a 0.2 last fall, and had opened at 0.3 a year ago.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.